The Problem With MLB Reporters

It’s winter meeting time! You know what that means. A ton of premature reporting on trades that haven’t happened yet, and sometimes won’t ever happen. MLB reporters are obsessed with jumping the gun and playing with our emotions.

It’s exhausting isn’t it? Today it was reported (won’t mention any names) that the Reds have agreed to trade their closer Aroldis Chapman to the Dodgers. The media even went as far as speculating on what the Dodgers would do with Kenley Jansen and Chapman in the bullpen. Alerts came in that the Dodgers would split the closer role depending on routines and who’s in the best shape that day. LOL what?!

Now I’m not saying that this trade will never happen, but the Reds came out and said it hasn’t happened yet, and they “have not agreed to trade Aroldis Chapman.”

Here’s the problem. Most MLB reporters are OBSESSED with trying to be the first person to break the news. They want to send out the first tweet and “break” the trade. You can see how that causes the premature reporting problem. There are many subscriptions to help with premature problems, but there isn’t a pill to fix this one. But if there was, it would be called “chill”.

It’s really funny to me that this is the case. I mean, I understand where it comes from, but let me ask you this: who broke the David Price to Toronto trade? Who broke Tulo being shipped out of Colorado? Or even who broke Greinke signing with the DBacks? The last one happened a couple days ago and I bet you have no idea who it was. I don’t either. Nobody remembers who broke a story.

So what’s the point? Who cares who broke the news? Everyone tweets it out as fact 5 minutes after the original report and I’d argue not a single person takes a mental note of where they saw it first.

It’s risky. You know what people do remember more often? They remember who tried to break news and failed miserably. They get put on the spot when someone else reports a team saying “nah bro we never said that.” So why even try? Egos man, egos.

Don’t believe everything you read on Twitter until you hear it confirmed by @Reds twitter.

Just to be clear, I’ve got the utmost respect for guys like Ken Rosenthal, Jon Heyman, and the rest. They do great work, and this piece was not directed at anyone in particular, but my opinion over the whole industry.